Review by Frank Plowright

The last pictures taken by a photographer who died in the Amazon are passed to the British consul in Brazil, who the same night loses the most spectacular of them to a German in a bar. It’s 1949 and Secret Service agent Kathy Austin has become somewhat the expert in the inexplicable, having previously been part of investigations in Kenya and Namibia, and she’s now sent to Brazil on the basis of the photograph.

Co-writers Leo and Rodolphe have populated each of the earlier series with one standout supporting character, and here that looks to be dissolute, cynical and bored British Consul Graham Maugham. He considers himself superior because he’s British, yet in reality he’s a time-serving liability. There’s also a return for adventurous American pilot Hank Grabble. Unlike their previous series, the writers don’t prolong the tease. There is definitely something strange in the Amazonian jungle, and it was no faked photograph. Kathy is made of sterner stuff than Maugham and is soon involved in a deadly situation in an inhospitable location.

Bertrand Marchal again supplies his artistic elegance, contrasting the opulence of embassy life with the lush jungle. The actual cover scene doesn’t occur in this episode at least, but is an attractive distillation of the beauty and danger Kathy faces. She’s a familiar face, but Marchal surrounds her with individually designed people you could pick from a crowd.

A German plot to cover their activities by having an opera performed in the jungle is a sly nod to Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo, or the true events that inspired it, as Leo and Rodolphe set up a strong dose of mystery and tension. Everyone reiterates the danger Kathy’s putting herself in, and the creative team show it’s no exaggeration. By the lead-in to Episode 2 three distinct threats are on the table, and that’s not including the local wildlife. It’s a set-up to equal those of previous series.